Why Loud Audio SUCKS - Clipping Explained

[@samiraperi467]

2:19 I'll point out that the knob indicates the volume being turned UP. Down is counter clockwise.

[@keylor_cr]

Noticed the same haha

[@virtualtools_3021]

Some products made in china put the potentimeter in the wrong way so that up it counter clockwise

[@InfernosReaper]

@@virtualtools_3021 I have a degree in how to fix that if you're interested, because that's not an intentional design choice ;)

[@jamesgriffyn]

Was gonna say the same. Twitched when I saw that.

[@bentcountershaft]

No, our point of view was from inside the receiver. James is trying to say when it comes down to it, we're the source of our own problems. It's very meta.

[@IgnacioCentu96]

Why loud audio sucks Low quality memes: impossible

[@ItsOneMinus]

😂😂😂

[@XenoSpyro]

Deep fried memes

[@mastaw]

I think tik tok's business model is audio clipping

[@gorgedealer4209]

i have a tip you can enjoy music in high volume is to, adjust the bass effects with equalizer.

[@ianm1797]

Earrape/bass boosted memes: Nani!?

[@5cupsofcoffee104]

We need a dark mode for tech quickie

[@royk7712]

shit this need to be seen by writer because its too damn bright on the bed

[@why_tho_]

For real tho

[@mataskart9894]

YESSSS.... They could at the very least try it out, see the reaction, and go from there

[@potatomuzik]

Yeah dark screen and white t-shirts

[@potatomuzik]

This would be much better

[@mbl2012]

Title is a little misleading. It should be "What is clipping?" You can still have loud music without clipping.

[@gurratell7326]

"Why clipped audio sucks"

[@SoggyBagelz]

How dare they omg

[@JakeD567]

Yeah but then no one would watch the video

[@HeenaPatel253]

MBL20 why too misleading

[@mbl2012]

@@HeenaPatel253 like I said. This video should be titled what is clipping. Not why Loud music sucks. You can have loud music without it clipping.

[@timramich]

You ever notice that the more drunk a person gets the louder they require their music to be?

[@why_tho_]

XD

[@micosstar]

because the distorted audio and the drunk person are on the same level, makes logical sense!

[@Hizsoo]

They can drink more at louder music. It mentally works the opposite way.

[@probablynotabigtoe9407]

Yes my asshole neighbor who invites people over on Sunday and stays up till 3am blasting music in his car. And his friend has this ungodly low pitch voice and they have to yell louder than the music, seriously he doesn't sound human.

[@neznanec14]

There is a reason for that, but I don’t want to sound like a smart a$$ xD

[@cyrilthefish]

This so reminds me of my old neighbour: Actually had a pretty close music taste to mine, and liked playing music in his garden. Fine so far... Except he used his mobile to do it, with the volume maxed out... Meaning all i could hear all summer was my favourite music mangled to buggery on an absurdly overloaded and abused mobile phone speaker... ARGH! D:

[@newzealand1706]

It triggers me when people use their phone speakers to play music

[@jGRite]

That's when you gift him an outdoor mobile speaker.

[@jamesc4999]

@@newzealand1706 Unless your on the go and can't use another speaker

[@MrCheezyCrack]

@Gus Johnson 1,000Watt, lol. RMS is where it's at, and no, your speaker is not 1,000 Watt RMS.

[@MrConminer]

My mom does the same 🙄🙄

[@AndersEngerJensen]

2:00 dome destruction isn’t happening because the amplifier is sending too powerful signals... but some dink pushing it in with their finger! :P

[@959tolis626]

As an ex twitter-dome-destroying dink, I can confirm.

[@DodoGTA]

I didn't expect you to be here

[@Geerice]

@Gus Johnson What?

[@InfernosReaper]

@@Geerice I'm kinda surprised that he didn't go all out and say "booty-guerilla jungle noise" like we're on the Boondocks or something...

[@beware_the_moose]

Vacuum cleaner will sort that out!

[@memelord_699]

petition to make techquickie dark mode

[@Nethan10Troi]

YES.

[@Silverdev2482]

yes

[@eix6440]

Yes.

[@ItsOneMinus]

Yes📝

[@thewallduck2022]

Yeeee

[@cekpi7]

Loud music doesn't suck. Cheap equipment trying to be loud sucks.

[@nattygsbord]

Compressed music have a shitty sound quality. Objective fact.

[@h1stacean]

At 2:43 when he says that the SPL is mentioned on headphones. I've never seen that mentioned anywhere. Also isn't overpowering your headphones bad as they have a maximum power handling capacity?

[@nattygsbord]

@@h1stacean You can always debate what came first.. the hen or the egg? shitty sound technicians or bad sound equipment? Since almost all music is compressed today do manufacturers also lower their standards of sound equipment. And they only get weaker and weaker so you no longer can hear uncompressed music in them - which is a shame. It makes it harder to turn the wheels back and win this war against shitty sound quality. Things are ironic. We have the ability to make the best sound equipment than ever before in history, and yet do we have sound quality that haven't been this bad since the 1940s. The digital age have created wonders. You do no longer get the old problems of more distortion the louder the music is played. But instead do we have useless sound technicians instead who destroy sound quality instead.

[@rexydallas8D]

@@nattygsbord Which is part of why newer music doesn't sound as good. Music has been audibly compressed since the 90s at the latest. Also part of the reason vinyl sounds better. ("Warmth", aside.) Lots of newer music is made so loud, it would either be physically impossible to put it on vinyl, or risk damaging the equipment used to play it, so many songs are mastered separately on vinyl. (That, and most people who buy vinyl probably care about audio quality.) Also why it is very often preferable to get 80s era CDs, or reissues of them, if possible, as opposed to getting remasters made after then. Especially of music made in the 80s, there has been no technological innovation in mastering since then that will make it sound better, so if the original master was well done, there is literally no point in remastering it. From my experience, 9 times out of 10 or more, newer masters of 80s music sound worse.

[@luutoo3649]

@Joe Al About "Compressed music have a shitty sound quality" do you mean that a format such as ".flac" is bad, and you would only consider uncompressed formats like".wav" files? If it weren't for .flac my music collection would have taken up to much space.

[@imeimenic]

Tell that to my dad when he is watching whatsapp videos

[@thisismagacountry1318]

He tells you it's WhatsApp, it's really porn.

[@bogdan_cx]

relatable

[@Alexandra-Rex]

_"... turn down the volume"_ yet, shows a volume control turn up to max.

[@shutdahellup69420]

What if the connections of potentiometer is flipped?

[@gonzaloparedes1091]

Maybe it's a speaker silenceness knob

[@Alexandra-Rex]

@@shutdahellup69420 I don't think that's how they work.

[@Alexandra-Rex]

@@Makhwax Hah!

[@the_man_panda]

Thank you!

[@technodaz]

My house starts clipping before my sub's, simple just build a sound system so loud you have to leave the room to go past 50% and you will never know what clipping is....

[@MrTuneCrave]

thats a pretty fair assumption of clipping

[@aaronprimus1300]

Lul

[@trainzandtrombones]

Clipping resulting from recording music is completely different to clipping when playing back music, so not sure why you had the example in a DAW at 1:27. Clipping on play back often happens within software too. This was a frustrating video to watch.

[@QuinnKallisti]

Yeah, they don't explain this in any way meaningful. They should have talked about the physical limits of formats of music in relation to amplitude (Bit Depth) or talked about when a speaker bottoms out and reaches its max travel distance... Because that is what is happening when an end-user "clips" their speaker, considering people pay audio engineers great amounts of money to create loud-sounding mixes without exceeding the maximum amplitude of the format...

[@QuinnKallisti]

This whole segment reeks of "This sounds technical to consumers"

[@VeryCuul]

Btw it was just in Premiere Pro not a DAW

[@Bixmy]

This video is full of misinformation

[@lightningppsky4842]

Agreed, this video is extremely dumbed down. Terms like Voltage, currents, signals and power werent really used correctly. Not even a mention of quantisation levels, which also plays a role in sound quality regardless of how loud an audio is.

[@robertsteel3563]

2:18 That animation of the volume knob is turning clockwise, meaning you are turning UP the volume, and you need to turn the knob counter-clockwise to the volume down!

[@ArabGamesGeeks]

He did turn it counter-clockwise from his prespective. I think they wanted the animation to match his hands movement. They needed to mirror the video to get it right.

[@ethanl9656]

It's an inverse log potentiometer

[@robertsteel3563]

@@ArabGamesGeeks True!

[@skyc3560]

@@ethanl9656 God, I once mixed one of those up with a regular audio taper one while wiring a guitar.

[@ethanl9656]

@@skyc3560 haha! "man! the more I turn it down, the faster it gets louder!" meanwhile the rest of the knobs turn the other direction. makes for endless embarrassing performance moments.

[@TheRetroLab]

I can't even begin to explain how much of the information on clipping is incorrect. You said loud sounds like cymbals cause clipping, while that is true it doesn't matter what is making the sound, if the waveform clips during recording its always going to be there no matter what speakers or amps you have. If you turn up your speakers too loud half the time it is the actual speaker cone flapping about that you can hear because you are turning it up louder than it was intended to go. There's more but its late and I can't be bothered anymore.

[@chrisbarnes7804]

You can't expect people who make a living off of informing other people to actually be informed, that would be totally unreasonable and require them to actually do work.

[@pro272727]

So many people out there replace their car speakers thinking their speakers are bad, when it was just the head unit clipping.

[@Lefteyehawk]

"Historical accurate machines" - me is looking in the polish tank tree "yeah sure, if you say so..." (so many blue print tanks, if not fantasy tank [polish tanks at 40TP and higher]) "free to win", "based on skill" - me is a mid-range player and things so.... 10 matches with 7 high loses, "based on skill, if you say so"

[@K-----]

Def not free to win. It has already been proven that premium tanks are way better than TT. That gave me a laugh when I heard that.

[@InfernosReaper]

@@K----- you're "free to win" if you're willing to pay

[@HIghlordBalkan]

It's the same thing with World of Warships that LTT was pushing awhile back. Most of it is all paper shit that never existed in real life.

[@CasualGuy60]

Don't forget the Chinese Tank Destroyer Line. Tbh, if you want to play World of Tanks, just try it, but don't expect to win a lot as a F2P player. Source: Me, been playing for at least 5 years in WoT.

[@lahola40]

That's why you play war thunder ;)

[@NicolaiWeitkemper]

2:18 I've never seen a volume knob that lowers the volume when you turn it clockwise 😄

[@manolinmero]

Australian volume knob

[@danieljensen2626]

I think James just did the hand gestures from his perspective instead of the viewer perspective, and the editor just went with it.

[@RandyLott]

I'm an electrical engineer, so I'll chime in. Most audio systems have a split voltage supply, meaning +/-. This is more efficient because the power transistors used to amplify the current (if BJT/Bipolar Junction Transistors) or voltage (if MOSFET - metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors) can be arranged in a symmetrical push-pull configuration. You'll need to use complimentary transistors, though (NPN + PNP or N-Channel + P-Channel). Manufacturing processes are different for each type, so they need to be matched or the circuit needs to be designed to be balanced. This was overly simplified. In reality, vacuum tubes and FETs are transconductance amplifiers (voltage in, current out) and BJTs are purely current amplifiers (current in, current out). There are other types of amplifiers, such as transimpedance amplifiers (current in, voltage out). The amount of voltage range remaining is called headroom. Even if you don't reach the voltage rail, a transistor or Op-Amp (operational amplifier, an IC made up of many transistors) can start to clip even by getting close to the supply voltage. Transistors experience hard clipping, which basically cuts off the tops of the signals. This produces harmonic distortion. Typically, current amplifier devices produce odd harmonics (BJTs) and voltage amplifiers produce even harmonics (vacuum tubes, MOSFETs). Vacuum tubes are special, though. They experience soft clipping, where the tops of the signals are rounded when approaching the rail. This doesn't mean tubes sound better. The only difference is that it can sound pleasant as an effect for musical instruments when overdriven. It's not what you want for music, games, and movies. Power tubes typically operate at a few hundred volts, therefore an output transformer is required to enable an appropriate impedance match for a speaker. Also, tubes require a filament, just like an incandescent light bulb. This is a piece of wire that burns, releasing electrons to be attracted to the high voltage. The amount of electrons that arrive at the output can be modulated based on the input voltage (audio signal). That's enough for now.

[@FinnishArmy]

Over-Clipping on subwoofer’s will be a smell you’ll never forget. It’s the smell of loosing 100s to 1000s of dollars, and it’s sad.

[@jamesc4999]

Luckily I've never had that, I think I may have been close to it, but my speakers are physically too loud for me to be anywhere near them if I try

[@bepbep7418]

And then you buy a recone and all is well again. 😂

[@rafiexperimental]

2:18 try doing the animation with your amp

[@ADVANCEthinking]

3:28 the AirPods actually fell off from his ear. Poor Riely he was enjoying the song so much.😂😂

[@dmtphone]

@2:40 spl and watts do not have a traditional linear relationship. A doubling of watts is required for each 3db of increase in peak spl. Also mlst music has a dynamic range factor (difference between loudest and softest parts of the song) a good rule of thumb is to allow 15db of headroom on an amplifier to prevent clipping darn near entirely. This means that a speaker driven to peaks of 80db with 1 watt will need a min of 32 watts to be safely played at an avg db of 80. (It is also important to keep in mind speakers are rated at 1meter, you may be further away which would necessitate accounting for losses to the room and therefore even more power required). If possible I would look for max watts rms rating on a speaker and purchase an amplifier accordingly.

[@CotyRiddle]

good rule of thumb is to get a amp with more RMS power out then the RMS power that your speakers are rated for. just don't max the volume out LMFAO

[@thedoctor907]

Also if its available look at peak spl and program spl. program could be explained as maximum sustainable volume and peak is, hey it "can" go this loud but not for that long and please don't.

[@AppendixVermiformis]

@@CotyRiddle I don't really see proper reasoning behind this suggestion. Maxing out a less powerful amp would clip at lower power levels and provide audible feedback that it is being pushed too far. Maxing out and clipping at powers greater than the speaker can handle would destroy them, possibly setting your house on fire. Manufacturers make it near impossible to crank the amp too much for it to break, but hooking up little speakers to a big amp would be a fire hazard.

[@reiniervanzwieten7092]

There is some stuff in here that i don't think are correct, for example usually lower frequenties requir more energy and causes the sound to clip, another one is that using a testone with an Oscilloscope to see how load ur amplifier can get is not a good test, as music isn't just a sine wave, if it's right for a sine wave doesn't mean it's righ for the music, and not only that but speakers aren't perfectly flat in terma of the frequenties they reproduce. So if ur either on a sweet spot or a spot that the speaker can't reproduce very well you don't have a good reproduction of how load ur system gets

[@damichl9684]

Your speaker won't thank you if your amplifier can handle way more power

[@SvenRGB]

You forgot to include total harmonic distortion

[@MichaelMarucci]

*Me, a professional mix engineer:* A 12db/octave high pass at 70hz with 4db of compression kissing a very quick brick wall limiter should be great. *Techquickie:* LoUd MuSiC bAd

[@alrecks619]

ah yes, energy buildup

[@elsheddars3918]

Nope

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

lmao dude i know the feeling, me owns analog synthesiser gear

[@Masterfreakification]

Sorry but... There are lot of things gone wrong in this video. The REAL reason why clipping occurs, is that there is a mismatch in the "range of loudness" between the source and the sink of the signal. The output of the source is already more than what the amplifier can handle, it's range is basically exhausted so it's clipped to the maximum. See 1:27 . It has nothing to do with power of the amplifier at all. You want to set your source output just as high, as that the loudest noises are just in the range of the amp. The REAL reason why your speakers can get damaged, is that they get a DC-Signal when the input signal is clipping, instead of an alternating sound signal. The coils are not made to handle DC for a long time.

[@onebraincellshort8055]

Now I think I know why my audio cuts out when Linus is hosting.

[@WeebLabs]

Five minutes of speaker discussion and no mention of sensitivity? That's one of the most important power-related characteristics to consider when pairing speakers with amplifiers!

[@DMSparky]

I’m two minutes in and it’s like 50% of the information is already wrong RIP

[@FrozenPaint]

Care to elaborate? I thought I found some mistakes as well but after paying close attention to their word choice during a second listen and I do not see any errors.

[@amirulasyrafjoe]

what is it?

[@bepbep7418]

@@FrozenPaint sure.... volume and clipping are 2 very different things 😂 ex. You can have a clipped signal with low volume.

[@geraltofrivia7823]

@@bepbep7418 What part/minute did it say that volume and clipping are the same thing?

[@unknownregions5014]

@@geraltofrivia7823 What he was saying in the video was that wasnt explained well is that when you turn your speakers up too loud it clips, however this isnt correct, you can clip at low volumes because when you turn up your phone to max you arent clipping the speakers, you clipping or distorting your input of the preamp which is why you cant simply turn down your amp, its about having a decent level of input and a decent level output, or a balanced gain. I hope that makes sense.

[@abdulwahabghulammuhanmad3758]

James: Free-to-win James (again): 1 week access to premium Everyone:

[@jasonsong86]

Actually clipping is DC that's what kills speakers when they are acting like pure resistors.

[@danieljensen2626]

Lol, no, a DC offset and clipping are two different things. A DC offset might cause one sided clipping, but there's something wrong with your gear if that is happening. You can definitely have clipping without any DC. What they said is correct, it adds high frequency content.

[@vsteel]

@@danieljensen2626 He is not talking about a DC offset, he is talking where the volume requested from the amp is past what it can do and the sine waves start looking like the tops have been cut off. when that happens you are sending a DC signal to the speaker in that flat part, for a brief moment it is not an AC signal anymore. You are then changing the characteristics of the speaker and turning the impedance to resistance. When you play music and they say they are 8 ohm speakers, the actual ohm rating changes depending on the music. A speaker driver is basically a coil of wire. When you send a current through the coil there is some resistance as the field builds and then after it is formed it goes into a steady state and turns into a direct short. During this time the field is really strong and pushing the driver hard, possibly past the force that it was intended to take and can cause damage.

[@danieljensen2626]

@@vsteel Square waves carry more power for the same peak amplitude compared to sine wave, but it has nothing to do with it being DC. Square waves are still very much AC, and in fact you need to add high frequency content to square off a sine wave, you don't add low frequency at all. You are trying to drive your speaker with extra power, but when it is clipping instead of increasing the amplitude the extra energy goes into higher frequencies. Most likely you are hurting your speakers just because there is extra energy, the same way you would hurt them with an amplifier that is too powerful. The phase of the different frequencies can get shifted leading to voltage overshoot, but again that's a high frequency phenomena, not low frequency.

[@vsteel]

@@danieljensen2626 I think you are getting hung up on the phrase DC. What I am saying is by clipping the signal you are driving your impedance to 0 and are causing the throw of the driver to go over what it can handle. I have seen tests where a very powerful amp was hooked up to speakers and you would be surprised at how much power the speakers can handle over what they are rated when the power is clean and not clipping. The quantity of the power is not as important as the quality of the power.

[@cristi.trohin]

You are partially right about how overpowering a speaker can cause hard clipping. However, there's more to clipping than the hard clip of a speaker. For example, if you have a very powerful speaker (say a 100W RMS) you can still encounter some sort of "clipping" by powering it through a lower power amplifier. That's what in the music industry is called power amp distortion. This kind of distortion is called soft clipping, and it's not as nasty as hard clipping. Rock guitarists actually use this kind of soft clipping or power amp compression in their sounds. For example, the brown sound that was first used by Eddie Van Halen, was achieved using a cranked Marshall Plexi 100 amp. At the time, the amps didn't have too much gain, like modern amps, so Eddie drove the amps as hard as he could to get that legendary sound. Bottom line is that clipping is nothing to be afraid of, when controlled properly. You basically hear clipping anytime you listen to a song that has an electric guitar in it. Distortion is clipping as well, just like overdrive and fuzz. The only type of clipping that is bad is speaker clipping.

[@Makhwax]

Compressor: am I a joke to you?

[@reubenburgess7447]

Compressing audio makes it sound awful. Brickwalled mastering is a scurge.

[@MrMinusguy]

Limiter is a type of compressor

[@elsheddars3918]

@@MrMinusguy yep

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

@@MrMinusguy true no cap

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

@@MrMinusguy ha lol OTT

[@erwinmatic5062]

Why loud music sucks? Because a lot of people are cranking up the volume that their cheap equipment can't handle.

[@skyc3560]

"Clipping... This is something you never want to happen." Guitarists would like to disagree.

[@neffix6976]

You never want clipping to happen Dubstep artists: hold my beer

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

not all clipping is bad aka analog clipping is good

[@neffix6976]

@@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135 yeah sure, it was just a joke

[@oliver-xk3jv]

Yess thanks for reminding me for clipping my nails 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@deminybs]

nah , go for the record lol

[@gabracal]

It's not the amp's power supply that can't provide enough power. It's the amp itself that can't produce enough power. I wish they can correct this.

[@thebrax]

I'm actually listening to this on a speaker on max volume rn

[@why_tho_]

Same

[@AwesomeSauce7176]

Prove it

[@AwesomeSauce7176]

Pull out the oscilloscope

[@FRANANGELICOONA]

But how will my neighbors know who I am as an individual? They need to know that I belong to a group ... anonymously.

[@Bixmy]

Fun fact: this video is full of misinformation I though Techquickie is a place where i can get reliable info maybe i need to rethink

[@realcartoongirl]

- guy say is misinformation - doesn't tell why

[@brine1986]

The same effect gave punk rock and metal its dirty\metallic sounds through overdrive effect, and i love it.

[@Gainn]

"Why inaccurate KZbin video titles suck."

[@monochrome5297]

what i got told, speakers always should be more watt than the amp itself, because the amp want to push its watt/power to the speaker but the speaker cant handle it as in result the amp will break down , dunno if i am right or not

[@devnull182]

Not correct

[@pyabhashoart-design4920]

Well... I really like all the videos you guys make. And I really appreciate them. And I get ti that this videos take time and money to make. But here is something that not quite right or well documented. 1. You never put a more powerful amplifier to a less powerful speaker to avoid clipping. Because when the speaker can't handle the power it gets from the amplifier, after a period of clipping the voice coil of the speaker will start to melt. It' just as simple as that. You never put a powerful amplifier to a weak speaker. Because like in the production and mixing session of a piece of music you'll need some headroom. That's the way in the hardware stuff too. IF you have let's say a 40W-RMS. 96SPL, 4Ω output amplifier you'll need a speaker with at least the following 50/60W-RMS 100+SPL 4Ω Speaker. Yes, you can go with a 40W-RMS Speaker too but most of the time at 90% the sound will start to clip. And after a long period of 100% volume, the voice coil starts to fail. firstly the impedance will start to get lower and after that, the melting process will come next. And your speaker just died. If you get a higher impedance speaker may help but usually will sound at lower volume due to the higher impedance. The same thing is happening with smartphones. Usually, phone headsets are tuned for 16Ω. If you put a 250Ω studio headphones, you'll not hear much. Of course, if you put a 32Ω headset to your phone is a win-win game (on the phone side), because the headset won't take your head off at maximum volume, and you won't lose your hearing even after a long session of listening to your favorite songs. And your headset will last longer too. This technique is true for speakers as well, but I don't think that a lot of people will like to hear a 50W speaker sound like a 35W one. 2. Clipping at the amplifier level - it usually happens with low-quality amplifiers - is the result of the final amplifier circuit being made with poor quality components. not because of the amplifier power source. If the amplifier power source is a low-quality one, yes it can heat up, but the result will not be audio clipping. It will cause cracks and pops. or if the amplifier has a better circuit than it will result in no power gain on the output. So after 50% volume, you will not get really much more power on the speaker. 3. And speaker damage like in this video will happen if you handle your speaker without any care. You'll drop them or there are some people/kids whit special abilities and pleasure in destroying your stuff. And the problem with this video is that most of the things were explained in the opposite way. Sorry guys.

[@danieljensen2626]

What they said about speakers kind of works, their point was to get speakers that can handle going as loud as you could ever possibly want them, and then buy an amp that can handle that without clipping. So even though you could break the speakers if you turn the amp up more, you won't, because it will be way too loud.

[@mckawesome777]

Being in the industry I have to reach out and add that I dont think I've ever seen a manufacturer list the SPL of a speaker. Because SPL is relevant to environment amongst other things depending on whether or not we mean a speaker (in a cabinet) or like in car audio, a speaker driver by itself. They do however list speaker efficiency which can give you a ballpark. Here's how: take the number they give you often labelled as 1w @ 1m (a common one is 89dB) now you can measure the distance from your listening area to your speakers (in a car it's pretty much a meter usually) then if you wanna get 3dB more output you can double the power. Keep doubling to get +3 more dB each time. Be careful not to exceed the RMS power of your speakers when doing this over 100dB is pretty flipping loud just keep that in mind as well. This information will also tell you what amp can make those puppies sing! This gets more complicated in a room though for every extra meter with CONVENTIONAL speakers you will lose APPX(!) 6 db. So if your listening area is at 4 meters your 89 just went down to 77db. Then balance the power out put of amps with your speakers RMS power handling to calculate that sweet volume at the listening area! Naturally theres more to it than this to calculate ACTUAL output or SPL that you can hear from where you're sitting like the loss due to reflections (or even amplification of some frequencies) but this is a little way you can get relatively close! ALSO unless you're spending GOBS of cash on super high end reference everything dont go putting 95+dB efficient speakers on regular non reference equipment... you'll end up with a big old hissy speaker that cost a lot of money... but that's a whole other thing! I hope this helped some people!!! Love the vids LMG! Keep em coming!

[@thedoctor907]

“Our new Kiva II keeps the elegance of its predecessor, but that’s where the comparison ends. Delivering an extra 6dB, the new model offers an impressive peak SPL of 138dB." L'acoustics website (Peak level at 1 m under half space conditions using pink noise with crest factor 4) Many manufacturers do inform of peak SPL usually measured at 1 meter. since if I need to hit 100db 20M away I am not going to choose a box that can only manage 100db at 1 meter. This is especially important if you are doing a design for a full system since for example if I am building a line array out of K2 and I want to put in front fill that is going to be 6M way I need to choose a box that has a peak somewhere around 130-140db to be able to keep up with any transiant sounds from the band (kicks and snares) through the main array and the subs. Though in fareness that is concert sound design but the basics are the same for smaller settings.

[@mckawesome777]

@@thedoctor907 well yeah that's what an efficiency rating is, the SPL that you get at 1W @ 1M the 1 Watt part is critical there cause that's how you calculate the power requirement of your amp and then what speaker you need to fit the job. Maybe I'm not understanding what you mean but I wasnt even taking into account cabinet or enclosure design because the only performance gains from enclosure selection is individual frequency range boosting. Unless you mean amplifier? In your example personally I'd take my parameters: 130-140dB of peak desired output. And I'd choose a speaker and amplifier combo that could reach that SPL at RMS power then take pink noise (typically mastered at negative 20dB) tune the system at 110dB (wearing some flipping ear plugs ha!) And boom real +20dB head room not just peak headroom. That's how I'd do the setup anyways. That's how I design reference cinemas and I've never done a big enough concert venue to run those sorts of levels sustained but it all just scales with math. That's cool though that you primarily do venues!

[@thedoctor907]

@@mckawesome777 I'll never say there is a right way to do something in audio since as much as math is useful your ears are the best tool to know if it sounds good. Concerts and cinemas are very different though I have never done cinema myself.

[@banigrisson]

Who the hell wrote this script, man?

[@AwesomeSauce7176]

Why do you ask?

[@QuibizOwl]

@@AwesomeSauce7176 Because it's terrible and filled with wrong information;(

[@AwesomeSauce7176]

@@QuibizOwl aw ;/

[@KeefeLee28]

Probably good idea to demonstrate about clipping is feeding too much gain/signal to the amp, this can also happen without turning the amp up at all. You can experience clipping sounds because the signal is "too hot" going into the amplifer or recording device.

[@MrRom92DAW]

Nice to see this video on amp clipping but it would be nice to see a video on the “loudness war” and bad mastering practices - more often than not these days the clipping is baked right into the audio!

[@colomboisdoido]

JVKE does it so badly it makes his music painful in headphones.

[@stephenchanda7580]

That game advertisement was TANKTASTIC! Suddenly enthusiastic towards the game I thought I'd never try

[@nextlifeonearth]

Fix your title. Call it what it is at least. I propose: "Why loud audio often sounds bad - clipping explained" or something like that.

[@luca4479]

Gotta clickbait it aye

[@sramey101]

They're title's accurate they just didn't connect what we perceive as "loud" to audio clipping/distortion

[@QuinnKallisti]

They should call it "What happens when you over amplify your audio signal, and bottom out your speaker"

[@bepbep7418]

@@QuinnKallisti you can clip without "bottoming out your speaker"

[@QuinnKallisti]

@@bepbep7418 No shit, I'm referring to when a consumer plays a completely non-clipped audio recording, at too high an amplitude than a speaker can handle, really the only time consumers will be "Clipping" lmao

[@useruserov8668]

Never had such issues with my 3.2 kW Inter-m amplifiers and 1000W ElectroVoice speakers. My neighbours will call police before even the sound gets distorted.

[@catriona_drummond]

This is the way! :)

[@colourbasscolourbassweapon2135]

ngl i have a dual 18 inch subwoofer that 6400watts tbh no cap

[@myopiniondoesntmatter7068]

What about clipping when there are no speakers or amps involved? I remember seeing audio sources clipping in audacity. Err so surely its not entirely a result of speakers/amps?

[@CotyRiddle]

that is the recording levels. the signal will be clipped but the output from them amp won't be it will still sound the same more or less just not actual clipping on the amp.

[@bepbep7418]

@@CotyRiddle wrong. If the signal is clipped, all an amp will do is AMPLIFY the clipped signal. 😂

[@Nik930714]

Fun fact - guitar and bass distortions, actually uses this principle (in a more controller and intentional matter) in order to achieve that sound. Those effects are used in many genres of music - rock, metal, pop, blues and others.

[@TiberiusMoon]

ill put down some info to help others who are looking at audio: So the level of power a set of speakers can take is rated on its spec. If its fed too much power you would blow speakers, too little and you will clip. For too little power the result is more obvious when more volume is added because the source is trying to give more clarity to the amp which cant give enough power to the speaker. The quality of each device matters: A source sound file needs to be a high bit rate so it can output everything clearly. A DAC that provides all the frequencies needed and a accurate conversion of the sounds produced for the amp. A AMP that can produce enough power, reproduce sound accurately and cleanly is the peak of what you want from a AMP altho some prefer different types of sound reproduction. The quality of any speaker is best heard in person as the frequency reproduction is based on the physical construction of the speaker rather than a rated spec, this also can change the sound reproduction to a users preference. How a speaker or heaphone reproduces certain frequencies is based on construction not so much quality as some devices can be well made but have sh!t sound, in this case it is important to read reviews of devices. Subwoofers need their frequency adjusted to be 10 Hz above the lowest frequency of the speaker, the gain of the sub needs to be balanced with the volume sound otherwise it can distort the sound from the speakers.

[@devnull182]

This is very wrong

[@lasseberg7317]

Well.... The video is a simplyfied truth. Much more complex in real life. Like the impedance of 8 ohms is only average - so two different 8 ohm speakers may have two different frq. Response curves and so on. But its not all wrong😄

[@Jae_972]

2:18 But hats up

[@mannymore_music]

Never thought i would someone Talk about clipping that is not a Producer , nice Video and good tip with the osc.

[@xt6997]

Audiophiles: but we like going deaf.

[@ebc4]

Deaf

[@testhekid]

u don't even know.. how much i needed this video, it started 2 weeks i kid u not

[@upsidedown4155]

2:45 just getting my head round this, your saying use a amplifier with a higher output then the max capacity of the speaker, So if you max the volume the speakers will blow, In my stack systems if a speaker channel for example had a max peak output of 600w my speaker spec would be no less the a 800w max peak power to make sure they can handle the sound and not destroy themselves

[@dannyvanderheide6098]

Peak power is actually a pretty useless thing, they never state how long a speaker can take it and at what frequency. also a 1200W RMS amplifier on a 700W RMS speaker will often have cleaner output because the amplifier has head room so it won't clip with a hard drum kick. Off course you will need to keep your level in control but that's often set beforehand by setting the gain level on your amplifier. This is why Martin Audio has produced their iKon iK42, a 4 channel amplifier able to supply 5000W RMS per channel at 2 Ohm's. not because people will attach 5000W speakers onto it, but because they'll need the headroom in high power applications like a festival main stage, where the amps will never be run to their limits to keep their output signal clean. You will also see in the spec sheet they don't even mention peak power because it is such an unreliable claim. martin-audio.com/downloads/datasheets/ik42-datasheet.pdf

[@jerrysommerfeld]

@@dannyvanderheide6098 While I mostly agree with what you are saying here, there are a lot of games manufacturers play when putting together spec sheets for amplifiers. Using short duration bursts for a power rating is actually the most common. There is really nothing inherently wrong with this, as typical program (music/movies) is very dynamic and not a continuous sine wave, but it is important to understand this, and some underlying principles. I have a hard time believing that their claim of 5,000W RMS output power per channel, all channels driven with continuous program material. This would mean a total output power of 20,000W. Not accounting for output stage and power supply efficiency losses, this would mean they would be continuously pulling almost 87Amps from a 230VAC mains circuit! This is not only well above standard mains breakers, but it is well above the 32A rating of their mains connector. There is no way this is a continuous power number, it has to be a burst power number. Unfortunately, we don't get any insight into what the "program" is. Typically this is actually a 1kHz sine wave burst for 10-20ms. This is long enough to be representative of a real world peak event (bass drum hit etc) while still being short enough that the amp can rely on bulk storage caps and ride through breaker curves. Check out the Common Amplifier Format guys if you want some more insight into amplifier ratings: caf.prosoundtraining.com/

[@blkspade23]

Yeah I was pretty sure that was backwards as well. The danger for the amp comes from an impedance mismatch. While yes the peak power spec is useless, there is no danger in having as speaker with greater handling than the amp. In that scenario the AMP will more likely distort well before you can max out the speaker. The speaker itself is likely to distort close to its max, and can be destroyed beyond it.

[@CotyRiddle]

and then you would probably blow a speaker still becasue you would be driving DC "Clipping" to your 800 Watt speakers at max volume.

[@xeruskun]

So I just need an oscilloscope? Got it.

[@bergennorway]

XerusKun I thought the same... It is better spending those money on a good amplifier. Almost impossible to get too get too much power if you have decent speakers also...

[@lio1234234]

Thanks for teaching these non-audiophile newbs. I greatly appreciate it!

[@bepbep7418]

Teaching misinformation lol 😂 volume and clipping are 2 very different things.

[@banigrisson]

Please correct me if I'm wrong... but aren't bass rich sounds actually the ones with that require more energy? I don't think a high pitched note from a singer actually needs that much. The low frequency waveforms ar much, much bigger than the high frequency ones, needing more movement from the speaker. Am I getting this wrong?

[@FPfiff]

lol did you just called World of Tanks Free to Win ??? like, theres premium shells which penetrate way more then usual shells with no downside. And they are extremely expensive without paying real money. And overpowered premium only tanks... Not to mention, that higher tier tanks really cost a lot to repair and reload, meaning you have to be either really good or pay real money...

[@VanBurenOfficial]

#RiseUp

[@GrockleTD]

Why loud audio sucks: my mom: Inconceivable

[@michaelvichiola6310]

I have an idea for a video you could dowhich I’m curious about myself: It’d be about explaining PDF and what it does, how it works, etc

[@iammarkanthony1]

3:05 Steve Meade Designs sells a distortion detector(DD-1) and crossover calibrater (CC-1) for fine tuning your amplifier.

[@helpmereach10ksubswithnovi41]

Techquickie: uploads Everyone: rushes to the comments Me: damn I’m two minutes too late!

[@Alexander-jy8rq]

Same

[@stormbossx]

Ha

[@c0ck48]

Early comments: FIRST FIRST!!!! NOOO

[@paulw7491]

Correct me if im wrong but isnt power also related to the frequency bc for lower frequencies you have to move more air and so you need more power for the driver? Just wondered because they only said its related to loudness which is also true.

[@justinbeamon6624]

The actual audio wave form will still clip no matter what the frequency is. In terms of power yes they definitely need much more for sure.

[@paulw7491]

@@justinbeamon6624 That's true, just felt this video was missing a few informations and was a bit short for the topic

[@RambUz]

another tech channel trying its best on sound. yeah it didnt go so well this time either

[@QuibizOwl]

Someone had say it out loud.

[@aavexs]

as an audio engineer, not 100% correct but correct enough to make people think they know exactly what's happening and argue with your judgment. kinda annoying.

[@liamtwentyman7275]

Can we get a Dark mode please? It's 5am, and Aargggh, my eyes!

[@albr4]

This is what I've always thought, I don't understand why people go to festivals at the front because the sound is always too loud and you can't even hear the music, I would much prefer to sit at home and enjoy it to the fullest with a good pair of headphones and the perfect volume.

[@ATCA]

What a poor presentation of clipping. I expected much better

[@antemeridiemwolf]

*Next video's sponsor is going to be Coca-Cola and the host telling us how Coke-tastic everything is.*

[@nostryx4656]

Techquickie🔥♥️

[@VanBurenOfficial]

Nostryx 🔥🍆🍌😩👌♥️

[@zeemon9623]

So I'm going to be that person and point out that the amplifier shown in about 1:50 is a guitar amp that uses no tweeter. It is also designed to be capable to clip the sound a ton. For guitars that's a feature, not a bug.

[@WarDaddy]

Oh yes I'm here to comment before I even watched the video

[@flagovhate]

Dad?

[@aluandcache7336]

Wow! Nice topic today! But love today's sponsor as well! Amazing game

[@deminybs]

I remember crackling terrible speakers when I was younger...that's why I spend more money on better ones 😂😂 got like $3k worth of just a receiver and a bunch of Klipsch tower speakers,surround, center, sub lol. and live alone so I can jam out anytime I please 😁😁

[@Charlie-zj3hw]

Love my Klipsch 600-m with a pair of Klipsch 12" subs..

[@madb132]

Clipping is when the bandwidth is to narrow so the higher/lower or both, frequencies are cut off. What you are referring to is distortion, ie over driving or under powered the speakers.

[@hementchotia2845]

Never seen a video this early..😂

[@ItsOneMinus]

I Know Right???

[@QuinnKallisti]

It's because they skipped the research phase.

[@Anuojat]

The chase for NOISE really did provide the gasoline for the DEATH of most modern "music", that and same people making nearly every tracks beat rhytm youve ever heard.

[@sameer7241]

Woah

[@silverdragon9046]

First

[@y2kona]

Yankee with no brim?

[@c0ck48]

@@silverdragon9046 cringe

[@SynthesisThirty]

Whoa

[@Hanzi2u]

@@silverdragon9046 no one cares

[@Lothyde]

You didn't talk about clipping from the speaker itself: When the audio amplifier is sending a normal non clipped signal but the speaker can't move back and forth far enough so it starts distorting.

[@AwesomeSauce7176]

Is there a good video on this? Sounds interesting

[@AnymMusic]

trust a music producer when they say, DON'T FCKING CLIP

[@amshermansen]

What the title should have been : "Why bad speaker systems sound terrible at high volume"

[@luispereztasso]

Guitar/amplifiers/pedal nerds: Oh, you didn't know that?

[@JW86SH]

I appreciate this video, but some of this information is a little inaccurate. It isn't the amp pushing too much "high frequency" to the speaker that destroys them. The voltage has been capped, hence the term clipping. The only way for the amp to continue increasing the volume is to increase the amperage. I don't know how that specifically would damage a speaker off the top of my head. As long as the speaker can handle the heat that is generated in the voice coil, it should be harmless. That scenario could potentially damage an amplifier however. As far as a speaker is concerned, from a standpoint of some of the pics used in this video, it's a scenario that involves excessive throw that causes that type of damage. Maybe you didn't use a properly selected high-pass filter or subsonic filter. There's a point where a certain frequency below what the speaker most efficiently produces that it creates a peak in impedance and another that creates a point of excessive cone movement. Both are critical to know when selecting the appropriate filters. Both can cause physical damage to the speaker, but they're each a different type of damage (or one can shatter the cone and the other can melt the voice coils).

[@billybbob18]

That's why I like having an oscilloscope. I can see the clipping in any signal below 50MHz.

[@mikeshane2048]

Clipping is more of an amplification factor related problem than the supply Voltage. for example assume two amplifiers with 100W audio output and same supply voltage but AMP no.1 has a 100x amplification factor AMP no.2 has a 10x amplification factor. The AMP no. 2 is less likely to get saturated by an audio signal than AMP no. 1 because it's amplification factor is less than of AMP no. 1.

[@chrispygingerpie]

I'm sorry, but this video is full of incorrect information. The only half decent advice is turning down the volume, but that still depends on the souce audio. Clipping happends when you overload the input of a device (be a poweramp, speaker, or mic input) to more than it's threshold/headroom. I was surprised when you showed the unmarked Mesa Rec amp, because a lot of the time clipping guitar amps pre and power amps is the goal to create harmonix clipping/distortion. Matching impedance is important as it can damage both the speaker and amp, it's very dangerous and can causes fire.

[@Bandersnatch786]

It was a Stiletto ;)

[@mr.m4yhem]

You explained amplitude clipping very well. But that's not 100% of the story. Speakers, Pre-amps and AD/DA Converters all introduce distortion and noise to the circuit. This is also easier to explain with dB as a reference.

[@sramey101]

Something I read once about audio is that the human ear can't truly perceive loudness and when we describe a speaker being loud is really just it clipping and distorting the signal making you lose sound clarity. Which is why with a good set of speakers they can reach higher dB in the same space but you can still talk over them because the area isn't muddied by distortion and why concerts can be dangerous b/c you don't truly realize what you're being subjected to and get tinnitus for hours afterwards

[@BenjaminWheeler0510]

Fun fact: you can build a simple audio amp with TLV272 operational amplifiers! Fun beginner circuits project

[@rollingtroll]

Nice shot at explaining it, but nope. You got most of this completely wrong. The rattling and distorting you hear, is actually the mechanical limits of your speakers. That's not clipping. The problem with clipping of an underpowered amplifier, is that it's usually above human hearing, you'll only know it's happened, when your tweeters (the units that produce the high tones in your speakers) are fried. That's why an amplifier can never be too powerful. The mechanical noise your speaker makes when it works too hard, is not instantly killing them. Just turn down the volume and all is well. Clipping kills your speakers in no time and is, indeed, caused by a power supply not being able to keep control over the speaker. The solution is a speaker that's easily driven by your amplifier. Now, watts are a weird thing. They don't say anything about sound quality, and not even how loud your sound will be. Back in the 50's 2x50 watts was enough to power an entire music venue because speakers were super efficient. You already touched on power supply, and that's the thing; The 'watts' an amplifier can put out are way less important than how much the power supply in the amplifier can deliver. Sony's great at lying about this. They promise 2x80 watts, yet on the back of the amplifier it shows that it only draws 120 watts from the mains. What's in that thing? A nuclear power plant? Windmills? Waterwheels? It's impossible. Suffice to say, get yourself an amplifier with a properly overdimensioned power section and you should be fine. Also don't forget; Deep bass has a loooooong wavelength. There's no use putting huge speakers in a small room. The sound will bounce to the wall, back in the direction of the speakers, and cancel itself out. Often you get deeper bass with a small speaker in a small room, than with a large speaker. So remember; Your amplifier can only be too powerful for your electricity bill, not for your speakers.

[@DesolatorMagic]

Actually high pitched noises like cymbals take almost no electricity whereas bass notes take immensely more.